Who Determines the Score on Rotten Tomatoes?

Rotten Tomatoes is a well-known aggregator site that evaluates the critical reception of movies and TV shows through its 'Tomatometer' score. This score is a key metric for understanding the public perception of a film's quality and helps potential viewers make informed decisions. But have you ever wondered how this score is actually calculated? Who determines the score on Rotten Tomatoes? Let's dive into the behind-the-scenes process and explore the significance of the Tomatometer.

Understanding the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer Score

The Rotten Tomatoes 'Tomatometer' score represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show. This score is a crucial indicator of a movie's critical reception and is often used by audiences to gauge its quality. A Tomatometer score is calculated for a movie or TV show after it receives at least five reviews, ensuring a robust and reliable assessment.

How the Tomatometer Score is Determined

The scoring process involves a rigorous evaluation of reviews from professional film critics. These critics are carefully selected for their expertise and objectivity. Their reviews are then compiled and analyzed by Rotten Tomatoes to determine the overall sentiment.

Key Points:

Minimum Reviews: Five professional reviews are required for a score to be computed. Positive Reviews: Reviews with a positive sentiment contribute to raising the Tomatometer score. Negative Reviews: Negative reviews contribute to lowering the score. Average Score: The Tomatometer score is an average of the positive and negative reviews.

Examples and Illustrations

To illustrate this process, let's take a look at the Tomatometer score for a popular movie: Avengers: Endgame (2019).

The Tomatometer score for Avengers: Endgame is 94%, based on 481 reviews from professional film critics. This means that 454 of those 481 critics gave the movie a positive review. Such a high score reflects the overwhelmingly positive reception of the film.

You can view the list of critics whose reviews were used to calculate this score through the following link:

Avengers: Endgame - Movie Reviews

Significance of the Tomatometer Score

The Tomatometer score holds a significant place in the movie industry. It not only influences the critical reception of a film but also guides audience decisions. A high Tomatometer score can signal to audiences that a movie is worth watching, thereby driving ticket sales and increasing its overall impact.

Moreover, the score provides a quick and accessible way for potential viewers to gauge the film's quality. This is particularly useful for newcomers to a franchise or for films with a smaller marketing budget. The score serves as a valuable tool in crowd-sourcing critical opinion.

Conclusion

In summary, the Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes is a rigorous and reliable indicator of a film's critical reception. It is determined through a process involving a high number of professional film critics, ensuring a fair and accurate assessment. By providing a simple, yet comprehensive, score, Rotten Tomatoes offers a valuable metric for viewers to consider when making their film choices.

Exploring the behind-the-scenes processes involved in calculating the Tomatometer score can help us better understand the nuances of movie reviews and the role of professional critics in shaping public opinion. Whether you are a movie enthusiast or a potential viewer, the Tomatometer score is a fascinating and valuable tool in the complex world of film criticism.